Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

In Philly, Democratic guv candidates make a play for young voters

TEMPLE DEBATE ART.jpeg

The Democratic candidates for governor (from left, Rob McCord, Katie McGinty, Allyson Schwartz and Tom Wolf) met for a debate at Temple University on Friday, March 28, 2014 (PennLive photo by John L. Micek).

All four candidates laid blame for the state's current economic and educational woes at Gov. Tom Corbettâs feet.

(*This story was updated to include comment from the re-election campaign of Gov. Tom Corbett)

PHILADELPHIA _ They’re the ones who are supposed to be staying home.

But on Friday, the 2014 pack of Democrats looking to send Gov. Gov. Tom Corbett back to the private sector made a direct play for the hearts and minds of the coveted 18-24 vote in one of the first official debates of this year’s still-young primary season.

Two-term state Treasurer Rob McCord, former Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-13th District, and former Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf of York County faced about 150 young voters who gathered in Temple University’s student center for the two-hour event sponsored by the Pennsylvania College Democrats

(Friday’s crop of candidates was diminished by one. On Tuesday, former Auditor General Jack Wagner dropped his quixotic bid for the party’s gubernatorial nomination).

And even as they touted diverse ideas ranging from new scholarship programs to education funding reform , all laid blame for the state’s current economic and educational woes at Corbett’s feet.

“He chose education as the first place to cut,” Schwartz said, echoing calls for increased college affordability for students who, in public universities, will graduate with an average $26,000 in debt, the event’s moderator, G. Terry Madonna, of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, said.

McCord touted his efforts to stabilize the state’s Tuition Account Program, which allows families to set aside money for their children’s higher education. McGinty proposed scholarships for low- and middle-income students. Wolf stressed the schools’ role as research institutions and local and statewide economic engines.

“These are laboratories for new ideas,” he said.

The session, televised by the Pennsylvania Cable Network, was generally cordial. But the candidates diverged sharply when they were asked how they'd work with a Republican-controlled General Assembly.

Schwartz, who had previously railed against the "old boys club" said she had little interest in striking a conciliatory note with legislative leaders.

That put her at odds with McCord, who said he believed legislative Republicans had grown frustrated with Corbett over the three years of his governorship. McGinty said the next governor had to be ready to mix it up with lawmakers.

When they were asked what the state — and not the federal government — could do to make healthcare more affordable, the candidates appeared momentarily flummoxed. The state and federal governments share the burden of the massively costly programs, including Medicaid.

“I would expand Medicaid and I would set up a statewide exchange,” Wolf said, who described health insurance as an economic development, not a social welfare, issue. McCord said the state “immediately” needs to accept Medicaid expansion, which he says would give the state the money and time it needs to look for ways to reduce healthcare costs more broadly.

McGinty dismissed Corbett’s Medicaid reform plan, “HealthyPa,” which would allow shift Medicaid recipients into the private market, saying “there’s nothing healthy” about it because it would “voucherize” health care. The administration has sought federal approval for its proposal.

“And you wonder why people are confused about healthcare?” Schwartz cracked, after her fellow candidates offered their thoroughly wonky prescriptions for fixing healthcare.

She, too, called for accepting the full Medicaid expansion authorized under the federal Affordable Care Act. Schwartz also said the next governor needs to more aggressively regulate the insurance agency in partnership with Washington.

“We need to recognize that we’re abusing labor of young people who aren’t well represented,” McCord said.

McGinty pooh-poohed the idea, saying she wanted to see “scholar-athletes” work on their academic development.

Schwartz also opposed unionization for athletes, but suggested that graduate-level teaching assistants might be allowed the right to unionize. Wolf, who said the ideal is to have athletics “serve the academic” mission, but sometimes it was reversed. He said players should be allowed to join a union when appropriate.

“There are too many instances where universities exploit,” athletes without allowing them to share in the fruit of their labors, Wolf said.

Three of the four candidates favored the legalization of medical marijuana — which has growing support in most public polls.

McCord and Schwartz credited former candidate John Hanger, who exited the race earlier this month, for calling attention to the issue by making it a central plank of his campaign.

McCord called for a “quest for evidence” on the risks and benefits of legalized marijuana and then wanted to build a “bipartisan consensus” around it.

“Yes, it polls well right now,” he said. “If we’re going to make this move, we want to regulate the heck out of it to protect people. This stuff is three times stronger than when I was a kid.”

Wolf, McGinty and Schwartz said they favored decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

On the hot-button topic of charter schools, the candidates agreed that public school students needed options, but they voiced concerns about the way the alternative public schools are funded. They also expressed reservations about the proliferation of cyber-charter programs.

“We’ve had too many situations of abuse,” said McGinty, who called for more transparency and accountability in the way the schools operate. McGinty also said “no to tax dollars going to schools that are operated by for-profit companies.”

Schwartz acknowledged the role charters play, but called for strengthening all of the state’s public schools. The next governor “has to figure out what’s smart, where we can take money,” such as the money spent on cyber-charters, and funnel it into early childhood education programs.

Wolf also expressed concerns about the way the schools are funded and said he was concerned charter movement represented an effort “to privatize public education.” McCord dismissed charters, in general, as a “rip-off,” even as he acknowledged that “there are some very good charter schools and some deeply flawed charter schools.”

The night’s serious sparring, which comes amidst an escalation of rhetoric between the gubernatorial camps (at least by their staff) and a more heated air war, was also marked by some light-hearted moments, particularly between McGinty and McCord, who playfully jabbed each other throughout the debate.

*In a statement released shortly after the debate concluded, Corbett's campaign manager, Michael Barley, called Corbett's Democratic challengers "lackluster" candidates who "continue to prove they have no new ideas for Pennsylvania's future besides more of the same failed big government policies that left high unemployment and a $4.2 billion budget deficit."

Related Stories

Featured Story

Get 'Today's Front Page' in your inbox

This newsletter is sent every morning at 6 a.m. and includes the morning's top stories, a full list of obituaries, links to comics and puzzles and the most recent news, sports and entertainment headlines.

optionalCheck here if you do not want to receive additional email offers and information.See our privacy policy

Thank you for signing up for 'Today's Front Page'

To view and subscribe to any of our other newsletters, please click here.